By Muhammad Dalhatu
NAMIP hosted an immersive Analytics Marathon Workshop from July 22 to 26, 2024, tailored for 10 organizations to bridge some existing knowledge gaps in digital publishing metrics amongst its participants. The overarching goal of the workshop was to empower attendees with a deeper understanding and practical application of digital analytics to elevate content distribution strategies and enhance audience engagement. Facilitated by digital marketing experts Ashraph Muhammed and Chiedozie Ike, supported by human resources expert, Emmanuel Faith, and NAMIP’s Media Advisor Temitayo Akinyemi, the comprehensive program covered a Human Resource best practices for newsrooms and an extensive array of key metrics across nine digital platforms, including Meta (Facebook and Instagram), X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, YouTube, Google (web management, Ads), and SEO optimization.
The Importance of Data-Driven Decision Making
A central theme of the workshop was the critical role of understanding analytics for data driven, audience-serving decisions. By delving into platforms like Google Analytics and Meta Analytics, participants learned how to extract meaningful insights from raw data. Understanding metrics such as page views, unique visitors, click-through rates, and conversion rates is essential for measuring website performance. Similarly, on social media platforms, metrics like followership, reach, impressions, and engagement rates provided crucial indicators of audience interaction.
Building Strong Audience Personas
The workshop emphasized the significance of creating detailed audience personas to tailor marketing efforts effectively. By analyzing user data, participants were able to identify target audience demographics, interests, and behaviors. This information was then used to develop comprehensive audience personas, enabling participants to create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their ideal customers.
5 Key Takeaways for Digital Marketers – Photo: NAMIP
Human Resources for Newsrooms
Amidst the bustle of crunching social media metrics and meticulously planning digital campaigns, HR consultant Emmanuel Faith provided a different perspective with his insightful guidance on how newsrooms can strengthen their human resources capabilities to foster an inclusive workplace and serve audiences better. He emphasized the significance of adopting best practices for hiring staff based on their unique needs and effectively measuring their performances.
Emmanuel delved into the intricacies of talent acquisition, emphasizing the vital aspects of identifying, attracting, and seamlessly onboarding talents in a strategic manner. He stressed the importance of defining the appropriate candidate profiles for the roles being recruited for and utilizing employer branding to attract the right talents.
Furthermore, Emmanuel highlighted the comprehensive steps involved in talent acquisition, including the processes of attracting, sourcing, selecting, hiring, and onboarding. Additionally, he explained the recruitment and selection processes, highlighting the importance of meticulously developing a job analysis to address the “Why” question. This is followed by crafting precise job descriptions tailored to the unique demands of the roles and conducting thorough job interviews to identify the right candidates.
This session was necessary to help newsrooms understand how their web data can influence their hiring process.
Leveraging Google and Meta Ads for Maximum Impact
The workshop culminated in a deep dive into the practical application of data insights through paid advertising, with participants learning to adeptly craft impactful Google and Meta ad campaigns by harnessing targeted strategies, ad formats, and bidding options. The imperative of continuous monitoring and optimization was strongly emphasized to gain maximum returns on advertising investments.
The workshop focused on comprehending and monitoring metrics, leveraging these insights to optimize editorial strategies and content, particularly through SEO tactics and Google Ads. Moreover, a strong emphasis was placed on an array of metrics such as average page views, unique visitors, click-through rates, conversion rates, followership, reach, impressions, average watch times for videos and reels, click-through rates, and post count across social media platforms.
After the workshops concluded, participants developed audience personas and gained an understanding of their platform analytics to make data-driven decisions while serving their audience. They can now develop distinctive audience personas based on the practical sessions. Additionally, after reviewing their social media analytics, each newsroom has gained a greater understanding of how to optimize their content to enhance their conversion rates. Lastly, practical sessions on developing job descriptions, led by HR consultant Emanuel, helped newsrooms understand how their web data can influence their hiring process. Newsrooms are now able to conduct needs assessments of their hires and workplace culture concerning overarching growth goals.